Desensitized in Candyland
by waylandlightwood
Summary: The gang finds out the last jewel shard resides in a castle in the sky but what happens when Inuyasha loses his sense of smell? Later, Kagome teaches the gang about Halloween. Inu/Kag Mir/San
1. In the SKY!

"What do you mean my omelet tastes like cardboard?!" Kagome snapped, jumping up from the blanket to glare defiantly at the half demon. The silver-haired boy glared back at Kagome for a while before folding his arms over his chest and looking away. "What I said. It tastes like CARDBOARD, Ka_gome_!!"

A collective sigh. All 5 of them were sitting under the sacred tree, eating. The wind had picked up, threatening heavier weather along the way.

"What an idiot", Shippo muttered as he chewed at the rice Kagome had also packed.

"I couldn't agree with you more", Sango replied. Miroku opened his mouth to remind Inuyasha that Kagome had a hold on him, what with the beads of subjugation still hanging around his neck but Kagome beat him to it. "_Sit boy_!"

Inuyasha's scream could be heard throughout the forest, like always it seemed whenever Kagome came to visit. Sango, Miroku, and Shippo all glanced at Inuyasha and let out another sigh. "By now you'd think he remembers what gets Kagome angry like that." Inuyasha's ears pricked. Miroku nodded. "But as always, Inuyasha's big mouth got him into a hole he can't even think about getting out of." "I agree", Shippo said smugly. "This always happens because Inuyasha's big ego won't let him see how Kagome feels."

"Are you _done_?!" the half-demon snapped, brushing his clothes off and glancing at Kagome, who was death-glaring him. He winced a bit under her glare but soon found he could talk again. "_Look_. I'm just telling it like it is. I don't see the harm in that."

"Don't see the _harm_ in that?!"

Scowling, Kagome quickly shifted off her knees to sitting cross-legged and folded her arms across her chest. The others started giggling when they realized she was mocking Inuyasha.

"'What I said. It tastes like CARDBOARD, Ka_gome_!!!!'" Sango, Miroku, and Shippo laughed at Kagome's impersonation of him, finding she didn't do that bad of a job. "You don't see that HARM in that?!" He grit his teeth and growled, their laughter annoying him to no end. He was about to snap at them when Kagome stopped abruptly, lifting her head up, her expression distracted and lost. "I sense a sacred jewel shard. And it's coming from up there." She pointed upwards, indicating the sky. Inuyasha stood up, drawing his Tetsuiga. "You mean like a flying demon has it?" Kagome's eyes narrowed and she shook her head. "No, I mean like...it's just in the sky..." Scowling, he slipped the sword back in its sheath. "Just in the sky? What the hell is _that_ supposed to mean? Just floatin' there?...In the SKY?!" "INUYASHA!" "Come on", came Sango's voice as she got on Kirara's back, already changed into her demon-slaying outfit. "Kagome says it's in the sky, so we take her word for it. And if it's the last jewel shard, we don't have time to waste. Naraku is also searching for it."

Miroku nodded and got on behind Sango, looking at Inuyasha and Kagome. "Sango's right. We don't have time to waste, so—"Excuse me!" They all looked to the source of Miroku's interruption and found it was a young woman with dark red hair that fell to her mid-back and wore a red and black kimono. She looked troubled and Miroku instantly got off of Kirara to go to the girl's side. Sango glared at him in annoyance. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Hello", Miroku greeted kindly, taking her hands in his. "I am a monk, traveling with my friends in search of the sacred jewel shards. I couldn't help but notice you look troubled. Is something the matter? And while you think of an answer to that, would you by chance consider bearing my child?" Sango's Heraikotsu slammed down hard on the monk's head and he winced from the impact.

The girl blinked and blushed some. "I don't get it. Aren't monks supposed to be...holy?" Inuyasha snorted. "Holy? There must've been a defect with this one, then." Miroku sighed. The girl looked down at the ground suddenly, shy now. "My name is Hatsuki. I am here because I have heard many stories of a group of fighters who help people in need. If you are these people, then I desperately need your help." Scowling, Inuyasha folded his arms across his chest and turned his head to the side. "Sorry lady, we ain't got the time. We need to find the—"Sit boy."

Inuyasha screamed once again, thudding to the ground as Kagome, Sango and Miroku stood in front of him, hiding him from the view of the girl.

"Of course we'll help you", Kagome said kindly. "Just tell us what happened." The girl nodded, smiling greatly at them. "Thank you very much. I am in debted to you all. You're welcome to stay with me for as long as you'd like." As Sango, Miroku and Shippo went on ahead, Kagome stayed back with Inuyasha, carrying Kirara in her arms.

"How could you say that to her?! She needs our help and you were about to turn her down!"

Inuyasha growled and stood upright, starting to follow slowly and his golden eyes flashed. "Kagome, I sensed a strong demonic aura coming from that woman." She raised her eyebrows and looked at the retreating back of Hatsuki. "You mean from Hatsuki?...I didn't sense anything. She seems sincere. And nowadays, it seems like that's your favorite word! Demonic aura, demonic aura, demonic aura. Give it a break." She looked at him in exasperation. "You're losing it." As Kagome began to follow after the 4, Inuyasha dropped his jaw and clenched his hands into fists before screaming, "_**AM NOT!!!!!**_"


	2. Din Din with Hatsuki

"You'll stay with me for the night and I'll tell you all about what happened", Hatsuki told them on their way back to her hut.

"We need to investigate", Inuyasha hissed in Kagome's ear. "Re_member_? The last sacred jewel shard? You _said_ it was in—"I KNOW WHAT I SAID!" she snapped. Everyone else slowly turned their heads to look back at the two in confusion. Kagome offered a bright smile while Inuyasha just glared at them. They soon approached Hatsuki's hut and entered it.

"Please make yourselves at home" she told them, walking farther into her place. "I will prepare some tea."

As she disappeared, Shippo jumped on Kagome's shoulder and looked at her worriedly. "Kagome, I think there's something up with that woman." Kagome tried to ignore Inuyasha's mocking grin, just concentrating on Shippo for right now.

"What do you mean, Shippo?"

"...She has a demonic aura around her."

She sighed and looked over at Miroku and Sango. "What about you two? Sense anything weird about Hatsuki? Because _I_ think she's being awfully kind to go out of her way just to give us shelter and food for the night. _Don't you think_?" she said through gritted teeth, wanting somebody to agree with her about this woman.

Miroku grinned. "I trust her, Kagome." There was silence for a while, everybody knowing that Miroku's response was completely biased. "Sango?" she asked hopefully.

"Well..." Before she could finish her sentence, Hatsuki returned with more than just tea. She'd brought over stew, bread, steak, ramen and much more. Then she smiled at Miroku. "And I will definitely consider bearing your child, monk. However many you want, in fact."

As Miroku seemed to get happier, Sango deflated and 'humphed', turning her back on the two and looking at Inuyasha and Kagome.

"Not in the least. I wouldn't trust her with my life."

Kagome sighed some as she watched Hatsuki give food to everyone. It looked great—better than what she managed to make for them most of the time, anyway, and her shoulders slumped some at the thought of them liking Hatsuki's cooking better than her own. "This is delicious!" Shippo said, happily eating some of the soup.

"I agree. You're a pretty good cook, Hatsuki" Sango commented.

The woman grinned at them all, her gaze stopping on Inuyasha. "And you? How do you like it?"

"I'm eating", he said around his mouthful of food, devouring it like he hadn't eaten in weeks.

Kagome stared at them all and couldn't help but clench her hands into fists. Sango and Miroku had always told her they liked her cooking, so she didn't feel any animosity towards them. Inuyasha on the other hand favored whenever she brought along anything instant as opposed to her real cooking. She glared at him until he looked up. "...What?" he muttered, his mouth full. She scowled and turned her head away from him. "Nothing. Forget it." He glared at her, wanting to know why she was acting so weird today. He knew something was up as soon as she told him a jewel shard was in the _sky_. "_Kagome_—"I'm sorry to interrupt", Hatsuki put in, looking at all of them. "But I brought you here for a reason..."

Miroku put down his tea and nodded. "You did. What exactly do you need our services for, Hatsuki?"

She lowered her eyes and took a deep breath before answering. "It's my sister. She was kidnapped and taken away to a castle in the sky by a demon. I'm not sure who he was...all I can remember is he had long black hair and was dressed extremely weird..." "Naraku", they all said at the same time. Hatsuki raised her eyebrows. "Do you know this demon?"

"A little too well", Inuyasha put in, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the wall of the hut. "We've all got some kind of bone to pick with him one way or another. And I guess we'll do it if it can't be helped. The sacred jewel shard is in the sky too, isn't it? We'll kill two birds with one stone."

Hatsuki beamed gratefully at all of them. "I can't tell you how happy I am! Please, have some more food as my thanks."

No one turned her down and soon they were all turning in for the night. "My tongue!" Inuyasha screamed, wrinkling his nose. "Feels like it's gonna burn off from that stupid spicy rice ball. What kind of idiot makes one that spicy anyway?!" He sniffed, and then sneezed. Sango raised her eyebrows. "Are you getting sick? That's so unlike you. Y'know, I've never heard you sound like a foghorn before."

"LIKE A WHAT?!" he snapped, clenching his hands into fists. Sango started to laugh. "I've only ever seen you dress sloppily—remember when one of the sleeves had ripped off your kimono?" Inuyasha growled and turned his head, quickly spotting Miroku and running over to the monk, hitting him hard upside his head. Miroku yelped and turned to glare accusingly at his badly-tempered friend. "Inuyasha! What was that about?!"

"Humph. What_ wasn't_ that about?"

While the two of them were arguing, Sango and Kagome walked over to their section of the sleeping arrangements, Shippo asleep in Kagome's arms. She reached in her yellow bag and pulled out a little rectangular device with some headphones attached to it after putting Shippo in her sleeping bag. Sango stared at it inquisitively. "Kagome...what is that?"

"Hm?" Kagome held up her iPod and grinned, pointing to it. "Oh, you mean this? It's called an iPod. You can listen to people singing on it, watch videos and even listen to the radio. It's pretty cool." Sango raised her eyebrows, unsure of how such a small thing could allow someone to do all that but then again, this was Kagome's world. She smiled and lay down, sighing. "Good night Sango." Sango grinned before closing her eyes.

"Night Kagome."

Hatsuki grinned as she looked out the window of her castle in the sky. "They'll never find me. And then I'll be the one to find the last jewel shard..." She looked behind her at the sleeping form of Kagome and grinned wickedly. "Isn't that right, little jewel detector?"


	3. Fun with An iPod

Kagome awoke hours later feeling very sore and tired. "My body", she muttered. "Feels like it's been through a wringer. What happened...?" She gasped when she realized she was lying on a floor and shot up, running to the sliding door but it wouldn't budge. "Aw man", she muttered. "Locked in." She sighed. "Where am I? How did I get here? I can't remember a thing."

All of a sudden, a gasp escaped her chest. "The sacred jewel shard...I can sense it. So it is here after all. But how do I get out...?"

She looked around the room until her eyes rested on her bow. Her face brightened and Kagome stung an arrow to it, aiming for the door. "Please work", she muttered and let go, watching the arrow soar through the air. It rammed into the door but that was the extent of what happened. She let out an exasperated sigh. "I was sure that would work..."

Looking around, Kagome figured there had to be something to get her out.

But it was pretty dark in the room—she could barely see the hand she was waving in front of her face.

"This is hopeless. How am I supposed to get out of here? Inuyasha..."

"Hey Kagome, got any of those noodles left?" Inuyasha called, walking around Hatsuki's house with his arms folded across his chest. Shippo rested on his shoulder. He'd finally woken up from the long nap he'd taken right after eating and he yawned some. When there was no answer, he scowled and tried again. "Ka-GOME!"

Still nothing.

Shippo frowned. "Hmm...she's probably still mad at you." "What?" Inuyasha glared at Shippo, signaling for him to explain. "It's obvious, really", the fox-demon started again. "You were devouring Hatsuki's cooking like you hadn't eaten in weeks. She was bound to be upset, seeing as how you go for her store-bought food over her regular cooking all the time." Inuyasha thought about that for a while before he noticed Sango and Miroku coming towards him, looking distressed.

"Inuyasha, Kagome's gone!" Miroku got out first.

He blinked a couple times. "You mean like she went back to her own time again without telling me?" His voice was hardening some.

Sango shook her head. "No, like she's missing! We've been looking everywhere and that was when we saw you."

He frowned and started sniffing around for her, then stopped, freezing in his place. "Her scent...I'm not picking it up..." He looked over at Sango and Miroku and glared at them. "I can't pick up any of your scents! What the hell's the matter with my nose?!"

Miroku frowned. "That is strange. It happened right after we all ate..."

"You don't think Hatsuki...?" Sango looked at the three of them, gripping her Heraikotsu a little tighter behind her. Miroku looked at Inuyasha who scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. "So I _was_ right to be suspicious. Kagome had no idea what she was talking about." "Wait a second", Sango muttered. "Your sense of smell is all off right now, isn't it? So...how are we supposed to find Kagome? No doubt that Shippo and Kirara's is bad too..."

All three of them looked expectantly at Shippo, who shook his head. "Mine too. I can't smell a thing."

Kirara suddenly let out a whimper and reverted back to her smaller form. Sango sighed worriedly and cradled her cat demon in her arms.

All of a sudden, Sango's face brightened. "The iPod!"

"Come again?" Inuyasha muttered.

"Follow me." Sango turned on her heel and started running back to the room she and Kagome had slept that night, Miroku and Inuyasha on her heels. Kneeling down by the infamous yellow bag, Sango fished around inside until she whipped out Kagome's iPod. The boys stared at it skeptically.

"What..._is_ that, Sango?" Shippo asked.

"Kagome called it an iPod." She unwound the headphones from around the green music player and stuck them in her ears. "She told me that people were singing on it, and that you could listen to them when you put these in", she told them, holding up the headphones.

Miroku raised his eyebrows and took hold of the small green electronic. "How interesting. Kagome's world never ceases to amaze me...so you think if we play this...iPod—"Then we can make the people on the other end tell us where Kagome is!" Inuyasha finished.

They nodded.

Miroku took the headphones out of Sango's ears and stuck them in his own. "I think it would be best if I talked to these people first. Just in case." Inuyasha and Sango glared at him. "Just in case of WHAT?!" "In case one of you upset them." Inuyasha scowled. "As if you're one to talk. You should know all _about_ upsetting people."

The monk was about to reply when his finger pressed the play button and 'Lose Control' by Ciara and Missy Elliot started. He raised his eyebrows and tried to keep up with the lyrics.

"Well...Well, uhm, yes I suppose it's true music can make people lose control...yes...uhm...do you have any informa...do you...do...Misdemeanor? I-Is that who's responsible for...Ciara?" Scowling, Inuyasha ripped the headphones out of the monk's ears and held them to his own.

"...Uh, NO. Nothing makes me wanna do a double-take. All we wanna know is where Kagome is! So start talking or you'll be getting a taste of my wind scar!" After listening to the song a little more, Inuyasha growled and withdrew his Tetsuiga. "That's it! If you're not talkin', we have no use for you. WIND SCAR!"

The powerful attack cut through the air and slashed Kagome's precious iPod to electronic ribbons. Sango raised her eyebrows, staring down at the curling strips of metal.

"Uh...don't you think that was going a bit overboard?"

"Feh." Inuyasha put the sword back in its sheath. "Who cares?" Miroku sighed and bent down to pick up the remains. "Yes but now we have no leads as to where Kagome might be. This device was our best option and you just destroyed it."

"Look. All I know is Kagome said the last jewel shard was in the sky. So we might as well head in that direction." They all nodded. "Kirara!" When the demon cat transformed, Sango and Miroku hopped on and instantly took off, Inuyasha right on their heels.

Kagome wandered around the room she was locked in, trying her best to come up with a plan on getting out. "I don't even know who brought me here", she muttered as she walked back and forth. "But I can sense the sacred jewel shard more strongly now. It can't be that far from where I am..."

Her train of thought was interrupted by the rattling of the sliding door. She narrowed her eyes and strung an arrow, aiming at it determined-like.

"Who's there?" she asked apprehensively.

There was a slight pause and then the door opened more slowly as someone stepped into the room. Kagome gasped as she recognized the person. The hair tied up in a ponytail, the freckles, somewhat dark blue eyes, barefoot and the presence of the sacred jewel shard emanated from his back.

"I should've known..." Kagome stared sadly at the boy, at the weapon in his hand. "Kohaku..."


End file.
